Nussy

Properties2
tagsperson, marechaussee, ambonese, knil, aceh, honours, jubilee
aliasesKorporaal Nussy, Sergeant Nussy, Baas Nussy, Marechaussee Sergeant Nussy, Amb. Mar. Th. Nussy, Th. Nussy

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Nussy was an Ambonese Marechaussee of the K.N.I.L. who served as a dardanel under the vermaarde patrouillecommandanten Vastenou and Dersjant before becoming the best-known spoorzoeker and overval specialist of the colonne Schmidt in 1910–1911, for which he was awarded the M.W.O. 3e klas. After his retirement as sergeant he was taken to the Netherlands by a controleur and afterwards served as mantri-politie on Ambon under the civil bestuur of his former commander, the Assistent-Resident Schmidt.

In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Nussy is also the first-named of the sergeants in Musket’s list of the Marechaussee commanders: “Gilles Graafland, Van Daalen, Campioni, Christoffel, Van der Maaten, Scheepens, Watrin, Webb, Colijn, Geertsema Beckering, Darlang and the sergeants Nussy, Salowono, Pongoh … a colourful array.”

Dardanel and patrouillecommandant

Nussy entered the colonne Schmidt already a veteran. He “was dardanel geweest bij Vastenou en Dersjant, vermaarde patrouillecommandanten, die schitterende resultaten hadden geboekt” — that is, he had served as the point-man under two of the most famous patrouillecommandanten of the older generation in Aceh. This background made him the unsurpassed spoorzoeker of the colonne: when faint bekas of Peutoeha Gam Masén’s fourageurs were found near the Kroeëng Seukoeleh, “Nussy, Kamagi, Paliaman lieten zich niet misleiden” by the listige verberging of sporen. He is repeatedly the man who first sights the enemy — at one point spotting a Beaumontgeweer aimed at him on the third day of a patrol and shooting first.

The colonne Schmidt campaign (1910–1911)

It was in the colonne Schmidt’s two-year hunt for the Tiriō Teungkoes that Nussy’s reputation was made. In May 1911, when the small resistance band of Peutoeha Gam Masén was omsingeld in a ladang near the Kroeëng Seukoeleh, Gam Masén drew his reuntjong and threw himself on the two voorste Marechaussees. “Nussy schoot en Enoch werkte af met de klewang.” The leader was neergelegd.

When the colonne overvalled the schuilplaats of the Tiriō bende later that same month, Nussy was again in the voorste linie. He climbed the steile waterral under fire alongside Gomies, Liklikwatil, Enoch, Kamagi, Paliaman and Oesoel; on the rand he was shot at from “vijf pas afstand” and missed — “Over geluk viel niet te klagen.” When the luitenant entrusted an omtrekking with the six best soldiers, Nussy was given the command. On the rand above the schuilplaats “Nussy en Paliaman namen nog drie man voor hun rekening.”

The killing of Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at (3 December 1911)

On 3 December 1911, Nussy — now korporaal — went out with his spits, who soon turned back. Alone, he gave the vogelgeluid signaal and waited. Three armed Acehnese approached; the voorste was Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at, who aimed his revolver at Nussy. Nussy shot first, hitting him in the borst; the boy fell but rose and fled. The second Acehnese was killed outright. “Rampisela en Koentjoeng legden de man neer, terwijl ook de derde nog werd ingehaald” — Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was brought down and became sjahid, geloofsmartelaar in the holy war. “Hier had Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at het lot van zijn Vader, zijn ooms en zovele andere verwanten gedeeld.”

The Ridder and the tears

When the news of his decoration arrived, Nussy was coming back from the passar in Tangsé with pakjes in his hands. “„Nussy dapat ridder klas tiga!” Nussy heeft het ridder derde klas gekregen.” The hardened dardanel, the man who had shot first at three armed Acehnese, “heeft het uitgehuild van ontroering.” The moment is one of the set-pieces of Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L..

The sergeants of the war

In Oost-Indisch Journael, Nussy, Salawono, and Pongoh are named as the Ambonese sergeants of the war whose names rang through the Indies like carillon music alongside the officers. “The stories of their brave deeds, adventures, and peculiarities went the rounds, as if they were legends.” Nussy is the first-named of the three, the fellow of the old time whose name was carillon music and whose stories were legends.

Later life on Ambon

After his retirement from the army, “een controleur hem nog meegenomen naar Nederland.” He then returned to Ambon as mantri-politie under the Assistent-Resident Schmidt. The army kept a watchful eye on him: the gevaarlijke communist Patty was active on Ambon, and the army had to ensure “dat hij op hem de gevaarlijke communist Patty niet zijn hoofd af zou slaan.” For Nussy “was altijd soldaat gebleven, soldaat sadja” — always a soldier, nothing but a soldier.

Significance

Nussy is the most fully drawn of the named Ambonese soldiers in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. and one of the most fully drawn Ambonese soldiers in any Dutch colonial source. His career tracks the whole arc of the late-colonial Marechaussee in Aceh: from the dardanel on patrol under the old patrouillecommandanten, through the long hunt for the last Acehnese resistance, to the strange peace of post-war police work under his former commander. His tears at the news of his decoration, and his lifelong identification as “soldaat sadja,” give the entry its human centre. In Oost-Indisch Journael he is equally the first-named of the legendary sergeants: the frame for the colonial memory of the Aceh War.

In the Maréchaussée Jubileum-nummer (1930)

The Overzicht van Onderscheidingen printed in the 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië records under 1911 the award to Amb. Mar. Th. Nussy, Alg. Stb. No. 40434 of the knight’s cross of the Militaire Willems-Orde 3rd class.

The editors singled him out in their footnote on the limits of the printed list. Lack of space had compelled them to confine the register to officers and onderluitenants and to those non-commissioned officers and men who held the 3rd class — “een zeldzame onderscheiding, die in totaal slechts aan elf leden van het Korps Maréchaussée is toegekend, n.l. aan vijf officieren, één onderluitenant, vier sergeanten en één soldaat, den zoo bekenden Nussy” — a rare distinction, granted in total to only eleven members of the corps: five officers, one onderluitenant, four sergeants and one soldier, the well-known Nussy. He is thus identified as the only private soldier of the corps ever to receive the 3rd class.

Colonel L. A. Snell, interviewed in the same issue, named Nussy among “de eenvoudigen van ziel” who ought to be rescued from oblivion alongside the great officers — “de dappersten onder de dapperen.”

See Also

Sources

  • Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “De colonne Schmidt” and chapter “Leve het Zesde Bataljon!”
  • Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder.

Nussy was an Ambonese Marechaussee of the K.N.I.L. who served as a dardanel under the vermaarde patrouillecommandanten Vastenou and Dersjant before becoming the best-known spoorzoeker and overval specialist of the colonne Schmidt in 1910–1911, for which he was awarded the M.W.O. 3e klas. After his retirement as sergeant he was taken to the Netherlands by a controleur and afterwards served as mantri-politie on Ambon under the civil bestuur of his former commander, the Assistent-Resident Schmidt.

In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Nussy is also the first-named of the sergeants in Musket’s list of the Marechaussee commanders: “Gilles Graafland, Van Daalen, Campioni, Christoffel, Van der Maaten, Scheepens, Watrin, Webb, Colijn, Geertsema Beckering, Darlang and the sergeants Nussy, Salowono, Pongoh … a colourful array.”

Dardanel and patrouillecommandant

Nussy entered the colonne Schmidt already a veteran. He “was dardanel geweest bij Vastenou en Dersjant, vermaarde patrouillecommandanten, die schitterende resultaten hadden geboekt” — that is, he had served as the point-man under two of the most famous patrouillecommandanten of the older generation in Aceh. This background made him the unsurpassed spoorzoeker of the colonne: when faint bekas of Peutoeha Gam Masén’s fourageurs were found near the Kroeëng Seukoeleh, “Nussy, Kamagi, Paliaman lieten zich niet misleiden” by the listige verberging of sporen. He is repeatedly the man who first sights the enemy — at one point spotting a Beaumontgeweer aimed at him on the third day of a patrol and shooting first.

The colonne Schmidt campaign (1910–1911)

It was in the colonne Schmidt’s two-year hunt for the Tiriō Teungkoes that Nussy’s reputation was made. In May 1911, when the small resistance band of Peutoeha Gam Masén was omsingeld in a ladang near the Kroeëng Seukoeleh, Gam Masén drew his reuntjong and threw himself on the two voorste Marechaussees. “Nussy schoot en Enoch werkte af met de klewang.” The leader was neergelegd.

When the colonne overvalled the schuilplaats of the Tiriō bende later that same month, Nussy was again in the voorste linie. He climbed the steile waterral under fire alongside Gomies, Liklikwatil, Enoch, Kamagi, Paliaman and Oesoel; on the rand he was shot at from “vijf pas afstand” and missed — “Over geluk viel niet te klagen.” When the luitenant entrusted an omtrekking with the six best soldiers, Nussy was given the command. On the rand above the schuilplaats “Nussy en Paliaman namen nog drie man voor hun rekening.”

The killing of Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at (3 December 1911)

On 3 December 1911, Nussy — now korporaal — went out with his spits, who soon turned back. Alone, he gave the vogelgeluid signaal and waited. Three armed Acehnese approached; the voorste was Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at, who aimed his revolver at Nussy. Nussy shot first, hitting him in the borst; the boy fell but rose and fled. The second Acehnese was killed outright. “Rampisela en Koentjoeng legden de man neer, terwijl ook de derde nog werd ingehaald” — Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at was brought down and became sjahid, geloofsmartelaar in the holy war. “Hier had Tgk. Tjhi Ma’at het lot van zijn Vader, zijn ooms en zovele andere verwanten gedeeld.”

The Ridder and the tears

When the news of his decoration arrived, Nussy was coming back from the passar in Tangsé with pakjes in his hands. “„Nussy dapat ridder klas tiga!” Nussy heeft het ridder derde klas gekregen.” The hardened dardanel, the man who had shot first at three armed Acehnese, “heeft het uitgehuild van ontroering.” The moment is one of the set-pieces of Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L..

The sergeants of the war

In Oost-Indisch Journael, Nussy, Salawono, and Pongoh are named as the Ambonese sergeants of the war whose names rang through the Indies like carillon music alongside the officers. “The stories of their brave deeds, adventures, and peculiarities went the rounds, as if they were legends.” Nussy is the first-named of the three, the fellow of the old time whose name was carillon music and whose stories were legends.

Later life on Ambon

After his retirement from the army, “een controleur hem nog meegenomen naar Nederland.” He then returned to Ambon as mantri-politie under the Assistent-Resident Schmidt. The army kept a watchful eye on him: the gevaarlijke communist Patty was active on Ambon, and the army had to ensure “dat hij op hem de gevaarlijke communist Patty niet zijn hoofd af zou slaan.” For Nussy “was altijd soldaat gebleven, soldaat sadja” — always a soldier, nothing but a soldier.

Significance

Nussy is the most fully drawn of the named Ambonese soldiers in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. and one of the most fully drawn Ambonese soldiers in any Dutch colonial source. His career tracks the whole arc of the late-colonial Marechaussee in Aceh: from the dardanel on patrol under the old patrouillecommandanten, through the long hunt for the last Acehnese resistance, to the strange peace of post-war police work under his former commander. His tears at the news of his decoration, and his lifelong identification as “soldaat sadja,” give the entry its human centre. In Oost-Indisch Journael he is equally the first-named of the legendary sergeants: the frame for the colonial memory of the Aceh War.

See Also

Sources

  • Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “De colonne Schmidt” and chapter “Leve het Zesde Bataljon!”
  • Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder.

Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.

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